


Lessons on the Female Menstrual Cycle by Cha Hakyeon

by tuberc-leo-fics (lourthor)



Series: girl!Hakyeon series [1]
Category: VIXX
Genre: Gen, Menstruation, a lot of talk about menstruation and periods, but if that will bother you, not in a lot of detail, yeah you guys, you should probably skip this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 11:45:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6802468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lourthor/pseuds/tuberc-leo-fics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hakyeon is a girl. Absolutely nothing changes, except that there are 500x more talks about periods. Period.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lessons on the Female Menstrual Cycle by Cha Hakyeon

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah. I don't remember what came over me to write this fic, but I definitely enjoyed it. Again, if you are not okay with reading someone talk about their period, don't read this story. It isn't in a lot of detail, and really only talks about symptoms, but if you are uncomfortable with that, save yourself the trouble. But for everyone else, please enjoy!

The night before Hakyeon auditioned for Jellyfish, she locked herself in the bathroom with a pair of scissors and cut off all her hair. She usually kept it short, as it was more manageable and not as hot when dancing, but if she was going to audition for an all-male company, she was going to have to look the part. The results weren’t great, but her hair didn’t need to be perfect.

 

Hakyeon had always looked more masculine growing up, and her 178cm, flat frame didn’t help persuade people that, yes, she was a girl. Because she was always dancing, she took to wearing tight sports bras and never quite got out of the habit. Her chest always looked flat.

 

She hadn’t been having luck auditioning for companies, no matter how good her dancing was, or how decent her singing.

 

“It’s because I’m too tall,” she grumbled to herself as she put on a loose pair of pants and a button up in preparation for the audition. “No one wants a female idol who will tower over her members. If they don’t want a girl, I might as well be a boy.”

 

Hakyeon showed up to her audition at Jellyfish Entertainment with her information sheet filled out. All of her information was correct, except her gender and the first number of her identification card.

 

“Welcome, Hakyeon,” the CEO said as she walked up to the front of the table and handed them her sheet. “What will you show us today?”

 

“I’ll dance and sing,” she told them, giving them a bright, easy smile. The CEO gave a small smile back and gestured to someone to put her tape into the player. The music started and she felt the beat, then started to dance.

 

She let her body completely take over as she danced, her movements sharp, yet fluid. She gave the dance her everything, and from the small smile on the faces in front of her, she knew she nailed it.

 

She nailed the singing too, her low honey voice getting a good reception. The CEO looked satisfied.

 

“Please wait outside, Hakyeon. We’ll talk to you in a minute.”

 

When she was called back in and saw their faces, she knew she was in.

 

“We’d like to offer a place to you training with our boy trainees. I think you’ll be a good fit. Can you sign a contract now, or would you like to deliberate further?”

 

She gave them an angelic smile and held out her hands. “Now, please.”

 

She read through all the forms and signed at the bottom, happy that she was finally in a company. But…

 

“I just wanted to let you know,” she said as she handed the stack of papers back. “I’m not a boy.”

 

The CEO froze, his hand stretched out to receive the papers, but he didn’t grab them. “What?” he asked her, his eyes narrowing.

 

“I’m sorry, but I’m a girl,” Hakyeon replied. “I’m not a boy.”

 

The CEO took the papers from her and set them on the table. “You marked on your papers that you were male. You lied?”

 

“Yes,” Hakyeon said, “I did. But, you said I’d be a good fit with the boy trainees and I can keep up. I’m very strong and a good dancer. I’ll fit in well, I promise.”

 

But he shook his head. “I don’t understand why you did this, but we aren’t accepting female trainees at this time.” Her heart sank. “Please return home and don’t show up again.” He turned and left.

 

When the CEO walked into work the next day, Hakyeon was there, sitting outside of his office. She watched him as he shook his head at her and kept walking. The third day she brought him coffee, which he turned down. She bought a cup of coffee every day for three weeks until he finally accepted it and motioned into his office.

 

“Sit down, Hakyeon.” She sat. “Why are you doing this? I’m sure you can get into another company and stop bothering me.”

 

But Hakyeon shook her head and folded her hands onto her lap. “I can’t do that. No one wants an almost 180cm tall girl. Plus I’m flat. My body will never get curves. I can’t be in a girl group.”

 

The CEO crinkled his nose at the information about her body, but stayed silent for a few minutes, watching her fidget.

 

“Look, Hakyeon. I like you, I think you have guts, but I can’t have you training with the boys. We’re looking to have a boy group debut next year, and I need to focus on that. When we start looking for female trainees, I’ll call you. Okay?” He made her look at him, and she nodded, though the look on her face showed that she didn’t like it.

 

When she left his office, the CEO thought that that was the last he would see of her, but she showed up the next day, gave him a small smile, and then walked to the door where the boys were practicing and looked through the glass. This continued for months, and the CEO felt resigned that she was going to stay, not matter what he said. She only looked through the door when the boys were practicing, and occasionally, when he went out of his office to go the bathroom, he saw her dancing outside of their practice room.

 

Five months after she had first auditioned, Hakyeon stormed into the CEO’s office, and plopped on the chair. He sighed and looked at her from where he was typing on his computer.

 

“Yes, Hakyeon?” he asked. He felt like he knew where this was going.

 

“Yes, CEO-nim. I have a proposition to make,” she said. He nodded at her to continue. “If I can show you that I can do all the dances the boys learned, but better, will you please let me train with them?”

 

She looked at him hopefully and he sighed. “Okay, but you will still have to wait until we have a girl group. You won’t be debuting for years, Hakyeon. Do you want that?”

 

He noticed when she shook her head, but couldn’t figure out what she was thinking. “What do you want, then?” he asked her.

 

“I want you to consider having me join the boy group.” She said this with such confidence and shamelessness, that the CEO barked out a quick laugh.

 

“Go on,” he said, thoroughly amused.

 

“There’s only been one recent idol group that was mixed girls and boys, but they disbanded. If there was a girl in the boy group, you will get a lot of recognition, and people will be curious. Besides, I can do everything that the boys can do. I’m very strong. The group won’t be split into two like that one was. I’d just be like one of the boys.”

 

Hakyeon delivered her speech very quickly, staring at the CEO as she did so. He nodded absentmindedly while she talked and when she finished, he steeled his hands on the desk in front of him and stood up.

 

“Let’s see you dance with the boys right now. Let me think about your other proposition.” She nodded gratefully and stood up as well. She opened her mouth, but he put up a hand to stop her talking. “I’m not promising anything, but you have to promise that you won’t bother me, no matter what I decide. Got it?”

 

Hakyeon nodded gratefully and gave a big smile. “I promise,” she said, holding out a pinky and curling it through the air. The CEO laughed at her antics.

 

“Okay, let’s go.”

 

The CEO pushed open the door to the practice room and stepped in, Hakyeon following closely behind. When they noticed him, the trainees stopped what they were doing, turned off the music, and then easily fell in line.

 

“Hi everyone,” he said, giving them a smile. “I see that all of you are working hard.” They nodded. Hakyeon took this time to assess the boys more closely. She had only been able to see them through the door. There were 6 of them total, and all of them looked to be around her height, or taller. It felt good to not be the tallest one in the room.

 

“This is a potential new trainee,” the CEO said as he gestured to Hakyeon. She gave them a smile and waved. “Hakyeon has been watching your practices from outside the door and finally pushed me to allow you guys to practice together. But first, I want to see you all dance. Let me see what you have been working on.” The boys all nodded and spread out. Hakyeon walked to the front of the boys and turned around so she was facing the CEO, the smile never leaving her face.

 

“Think of this as an informal assessment,” he said, then stepped back to allow the 7 of them room.

 

When the music started, Hakyeon rolled her shoulders slowly and shook out her arms to prepare for the dance. After 8 counts, she exploded. She had been watching the boys for so long and knew this dance better than any other dance she had done previously. She let her body move to the rhythm and hit hard at certain places, putting her own flare on certain moves. She couldn’t see the other boys behind her, but she knew that she did better than most of them. She was born to dance.

 

When the music stopped, Hakyeon gave a big smile and looked to the CEO who was clapping. She stepped into line with the other boys, secure in the knowledge that the CEO would let her train with the boys. She looked at the boy on her right and saw narrow eyes looking straight ahead. His chubby cheeks made Hakyeon want to pinch them.

 

“Okay,” the CEO said. “Suffice to say, Hakyeon,” he turned to her, “you are now allowed to train with the boys.”

 

She clapped and then bowed to him. “Thank you so much,” she said. She clasped her hands in front of her and stood straight, looking forward like the boys.

 

“But,” he said, “you and I will have a talk sometime later about what you said in my office. Understand?”

 

Hakyeon nodded vigorously as the CEO left. The tenseness left the shoulders of the boys, and Hakyeon found herself stretching out her arms with the rest of the boys. Finally, she turned to the boy who was standing on her right.

 

“Do you want to do the splits?”

 

The boy stared at her for several long seconds, eyes unblinking, before he nodded slowly and fell to the ground. Hakyeon was startled by the sudden movement, but she sat down as well and held her arms out as she spread her legs. The boy grabbed her hands firmly and spread his legs as far as they would go, which, Hakyeon noted, wasn’t very far.

 

“I’m Cha Hakyeon,” she said as the stretched, “what’s your name?”

 

Again, the boy was slow to answer, but after a few seconds, he finally spoke. “Jung Taekwoon.”

 

“Great! Nice to meet you. I’m glad we’ll be training together. When were you born? I was born in 1990. How old are you, Taekwoon?”

 

“I’m 22. Born in 1990.”

 

“Then we are going to be great friends. Please call me Hakyeon,” Hakyeon chatted as they stretched together. Hakyeon wasn’t bothered that Taekwoon didn’t talk much, but he did bring out some kind of buried motherly instincts that Hakyeon wasn’t sure existed before.

 

The day passed and Hakyeon got to know the other trainees. Wonshik, or Ravi as he liked to be called, was a very outgoing kid who was good friends with Hongbin, the pretty boy in the group. Those two were the youngest trainees. Nakhun was the same age as Taekwoon and Hakyeon, but felt younger than Taekwoon by several years. Daewon and Jaehwan also seemed close, though apparently Jaehwan hadn’t been training long with the group. Hakyeon remembered seeing him go to practice for the first time when she was loitering in the company and bothering the CEO.

 

The next week passed by quickly, and Hakyeon found that she fit into the group very easily. Everyone was friendly and talkative, except Taekwoon, and they welcomed her with open arms.

 

It was September and the weather was extremely hot. The practice room was sweltering and the air conditioning wasn’t working properly, so whenever they took a small break, they all gathered in front of the fans sitting on the floor.

 

Wonshik was the first to take off his shirt that was already soaked through with sweat. Hongbin stripped until he was in a tank top and rolled his pants up. Once they saw the youngest two, everyone followed. Hakyeon’s shirt was black and wet with sweat, so she shrugged and followed the boys until she was just in her sports bra.

 

There was a strangled scream from her right and she looked to see Nakhun with his back to her, covering his face with his hands. Everyone turned at the scream, and Hakyeon had never seen so many red faces in her life. All the boys except Taekwoon were either turned away or covering their eyes.

 

“What, guys?” she asked. “I know I have awesome abs, but you don’t need to look away in envy.”

 

“You’re a girl?” Wonshik asked, hand still covering his face.

 

“You didn’t know?” she asked, knowing full well that she hid it from them just for this reason.

 

“Can you put your shirt back on?” Daewon asked, his back to her.

 

Hakyeon frowned, annoyed at the boys. But she waited about ten seconds before she spoke. “Okay, I did it. You guys can look now.”

 

They all looked at her then blushed again when they noticed that she was still in her sports bra. “What, so you boys can strip down to almost nothing and it’s okay but I can’t cover my boobs and be considered decent? You all can look, you know. You’ve probably seen worse in magazines or on the internet.”

 

“We’ve been calling you hyung!” Ravi said. “Why didn’t you correct us?”

 

Hakyeon shrugged carelessly and stretched her arms above her head, pushing out her chest to make the boys squirm a little, but stopped when Jaehwan and Daewon were looking a little queasy.

 

“I don’t want you to treat me any different than you treat everyone else,” Hakyeon said, staring down all the boys. “I’m training with you guys because I fought hard to be here. After 6 months, I finally convinced the CEO to accept me and let me train with you guys. And I’m showing that I can do just as well as all of you, if not better. Right?”

 

The boys nodded slowly at her words. Slowly, everyone went back to practicing, but most of them avoided looking at her muscled back and stomach.

 

The next break, Hakyeon sat down next to Taekwoon who was sipping from his water bottle, sprawled on the floor in front of the fan.

 

“You won’t treat me differently, will you, Taekwoon-ie?” she asked him as she laid down beside him, trying to get at the cold air blowing. He turned to face her slightly and shook his head.

 

“I already knew,” he told her. She blinked, surprised. “It’s pretty obvious,” he murmured, then looked away.

 

Hakyeon poked his back. “Why is it obvious? I hid it so well. None of the other boys knew!”

 

Taekwoon rolled his eyes. “I lived with three older sisters and my mom. I’m pretty sure I know how to recognize a girl.” He tilted his head up to stare her in the eyes. “Besides, a sports bra makes very obvious lines and shapes underneath a shirt if you know what to look for.”

 

Hakyeon gaped at him before punching him hard in the arm. He rubbed at the spot and glared at her. “That hurt, you idiot.”

 

“Don’t call me an idiot, you pervert!”

 

Over the next several months, Taekwoon and Hakyeon only grew closer. Hakyeon also became close with the other trainees, but none of them were as close as her and Taekwoon.

 

“I seriously don’t understand how those two are so close,” Hongbin said to Ravi as they watched Hakyeon and Taekwoon share ear buds while listening to Taekwoon’s ipod. “Taekwoon-hyung rarely talks to any of us and isn’t any fun, but somehow those two know everything about each other.”

 

They frowned as Taekwoon reached into his pocket and took out several pieces of chocolate and handed them to Hakyeon. Hakyeon didn’t say anything as she popped one of them into her mouth. She offered the other one to Taekwoon by pushing it in his face, but he just shook his head and swatted at her hand.

 

“Taekwoon-hyung,” Jaehwan said as he walked up to the pair sitting in the corner. “How come you never offer me any chocolate?”

 

Taekwoon glared at him. “You’re on a diet and shouldn’t be eating any of this.”

 

Jaehwan pouted. “But we’re all on diets! How come you’ll let Hakyeon break the rules but not me?”

 

“Hakyeon’s on her period.”

 

The noise in the practice room stopped and all the boys turned to look at them. All of them had a grossed out look on their face.

 

“Ew, hyung.”

 

“I did not need to know that.”

 

Hakyeon sighed. “Listen up, everyone,” she said as she stood up. They all turned to look at her. “The period is a miraculous thing. I hate it, but it’s miraculous. It’s the reason you are all alive right now, so you should be worshipping the fact that women menstruate.” Everyone started to inch away, intent on getting far away from her.

 

“Don’t run away! My period doesn’t affect you. It affects me, and maybe Taekwoon because he has to deal with my complaints. I’m in intense pain for three days and slightly nauseous and start bleeding out of my vagina. I eat my weight in food and chocolate for 6 days and have to insert tampons and wear pads and all that great stuff.”

 

At this point, all the boys were red in the face, but knew that if they left Hakyeon would hunt them down. So they stayed and hoped they weren’t traumatized by this talk.

 

“Taekwoon,” Hakyeon said loudly, thrusting her arm out to the side and motioning with her hand. Taekwoon grabbed his bag and reached inside before pulling out two items and handing them to her.

 

“Now, kids, this is a pad,” she ripped it open in one fluid motion and showed it to the boys, making sure all of them could see it. “I need to wear this so I don’t bleed through my panties. And this,” she ripped open another package, “is a tampon. I’m going to pass this around, so take a good luck at it.”

 

She handed it to Daewon who looked like he was about to puke and handled it with trembling hands, turning it around in his hands as though he was inspecting it, but his mind was blank. He passed it to Hongbin who sighed, but reached out to take it. While the boys were inspecting the tampon and feeling embarrassed, Hakyeon was lecturing on the history of female sanitation products.

 

“And then in the 1920s, Leona Charter invented the first menstrual cup that was inserted into the vagina and collected the blood…”

 

The boys continued to inspect the tampon, ears red and their eyes on the ground, trying to tune out what Hakyeon was saying.

 

“Then finally, in 1969 the first pads with adhesive strips were invented, so women no longer had to wear belts to hold them up-oh! Are you guys done?”

 

They all nodded.

 

“Good. So this part is inserted into the vagina and you press this and then look! This is inserted and you take out the plastic part and dispose of it. But you can’t wear it all the time because you might need to amputate your leg if you get toxic shock syndrome. Do you understand?”

 

They nodded again.

 

“Good. It’s important you all know this. You all have women in your lives and need to understand what they go through. And any girlfriends you might have in the future will appreciate this. Any questions?”

 

The boys just shook their heads and slowly left the practice room without looking back at where Hakyeon and Taekwoon were standing. Once the door was closed, Taekwoon started laughing, though he tried to hide it with his hands, his head bowed.

 

“Was it too much?” Hakyeon asked him. Taekwoon just laughed more and nodded his head.

 

“Yeah,” he said as he looked at her. He walked over to where his bag was next to Hakyeon and bent to pick it up. He then pushed Hakyeon’s shoulders until she started walking towards the door.

 

“Come on Hakyeon,” he said, “let’s go eat our weight in chicken.”

 

They left the practice room bumping shoulders and chuckling as they reminisced about the horrified look on each of the boy’s faces.

 

\--

 

“Hakyeon,” the CEO said as she sat in front of him in his office, the door closed. He had a serious look on his face which made Hakyeon feel nervous. Suddenly, she felt underdressed in her sweatpants and a t-shirt as she looked at the CEO’s neatly pressed suit.

 

“What’s wrong?” she asked him, hands folded on her lap and ankles crossed underneath her chair, looking like an innocent child.

 

“I called you up here to talk about something before letting the other trainees know, as this relates directly to you.”

 

Hakyeon was getting worried at this point, and the CEO smiled at her to try and alleviate the worry plastered all over her face.

 

“In about 3 weeks, we are going to get three new trainees,” Hakyeon nodded, a little confused as to why he was telling her this. “But they aren’t going to be training for very long. We are hoping to debut a group in about 4 months. All ten of you trainees will participate in a documentary-like elimination show detailing the formation of our new group,” Hakyeon’s breath caught when he said ten. The CEO noticed and smiled. “Yes, Hakyeon, that means you too.”

 

She stood up quickly and bowed, repeating “thank you” over and over again, but the CEO held up a hand to stop her. “This doesn’t mean much right now. We are going to see how the audience takes to you, and then make a decision on whether you will be in the group or not. Understood?”

 

Hakyeon bowed again and clasped her hands in front of her, swaying from side to side with a large grin on her face. “Yes, I understand. Thank you so much!”

 

He smiled at her enthusiasm. “Please don’t tell anyone yet. I will announce everything in a couple of days and explain what is going to be happening.”

 

“Thank you, thank you so much.”

 

Of course Hakyeon immediately set out to find Taekwoon, which wasn’t a difficult task. He was playing the piano and singing in one of the smaller practice rooms. Without knocking she flung the door open, startling him, then closed it firmly behind herself.

 

“Guess what I know that you don’t!” she teased, smiling widely.

 

Taekwoon just frowned at her and narrowed his eyes, not caring either way.

 

“Oh come on, you’re not even curious?” she asked him.

 

His frown deepened and he started to play some soft chords on the keyboard. “The last time you asked me that you proceeded to give me a very long rant on female genital mutilation in certain places in Africa. I’m busy right now, so go away.”

 

“No can do, Taekwoon-ie. I have very important information about the possible debut of us Jelpi trainees.”

 

He stopped playing on the keyboard and frowned again. “Where did you even hear that?”

 

She smiled at him. “As you know, Hwang Sejun CEO and I have a very close relationship,” she paused when she noticed him roll his eyes. “Fine. He called me up into his office today because he wanted to tell me that we are going to try and debut a group in 4 months. There’s going to be this documentary thing and he’s inviting outsiders to participate and I will be too,” she met his eyes then, “for the boy group.”

 

“I’m glad,” Taekwoon said, smiling at her slightly. “Now, I’m going to pretend you never told me the information about the documentary, and I will just keep practicing. Bye.”

 

Hakyeon pouted slightly at the dismissal but turned around to open the door and slip out. Before she made it out the door fully, she heard Taekwoon call to her in a soft voice.

 

“I really am happy for you, Hakyeon. Everyone’s going to love you.” She threw a smile over her shoulder then closed the door behind her. She threw her back pack onto the end of the bench in the practice room, took out her ipod, then proceeded to dance.

 

\--

 

When the three new trainees came, Hakyeon didn’t reveal herself to be a girl right away. She didn’t want them to see her as somehow inferior to them, so she kept it to herself, and asked the other older trainees to do the same.

 

“Just call me Hyung for right now. Okay?” she asked them after she settled everyone down in a circle in their very sparse living room.

 

“I don’t know, Noona,” Hongbin said. They had all been getting a lot closer since the period paraphernalia incident, and she found that she and Hongbin actually had a lot in common. But all of the trainees were really welcoming of her and she could see that they started to respect her and look up to her. “It feels kind of like a deception, calling you Hyung instead of just ignoring it. We’d purposefully be leading them to believe that you are a boy.”

 

“I don’t know who these new trainees are. I don’t trust them yet to know how they will treat me if they find out I’m a woman,” she replied. They all nodded slowly, though several of them were frowning.

 

In the end the big reveal was pretty anti-climactic. Only Byoungjun really had a problem with it, and kind of ignored Hakyeon whenever she was around. Sanghyuk and Yoonchul just shook it off, though they politely averted their eyes whenever she walked around in her sports bra and shorts at the dorm. Everyone else had gotten used to it by then.

 

The Mydol Angels found out a little bit later during the mud photoshoot. All the boys were topless, but no matter how much Hakyeon wanted to do the same, she couldn’t. The women helpers at the shoot smoothed the mud over her sports bra instead, and as it dried with the help of many hair driers, Hakyeon could feel some of the mud slide down between her breasts and rest against the band stretched tight against her skin.

 

As she stood underneath the water with the boys, head tilted up to catch the rain, she felt her heart tighten with anticipation. Very soon, the fans would know that she was a girl, and their reactions would determine her future. The more the mud rinsed away, the more anxious she started to feel. The cold of the studio along with the water made everyone tense up and their muscles bulge slightly, which didn’t help with her anxiousness.

 

As they were walking out after the shoot, Hakyeon could hear some of the staff talking lowly to themselves, though not low enough.

 

“Why would there be one girl with all of those guys? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Who do you think she slept with to get there?”

“How would that even work?”

 

She bowed her head slightly and tensed, but her head shot up when she felt someone kick at the back of her shoes. She turned around to glare at whoever was kicking her, but stopped when she saw Taekwoon giving her a small, sad smile. Several of the other trainees punched her lightly in the arm and smiled at her as well. Sanghyuk gave her an awkward smile, and Hakyeon felt some of the anxiousness melt away. No matter what other people thought, the trainees still cared about her.

 

‘No matter who debuts in this group, I’ll be lucky,’ she thought.

 

\--

 

To no one’s surprise, except maybe Hakyeon herself, Hakyeon was the most loved trainee; most of the comments on their homepage were for her or about her. It seemed like every Mydol Angel fell into her charms, and not a single one of them seemed to care that she was a girl.

 

\--

 

“Taekwoon, you need to help me,” Hakyeon said as she pulled him into a dark corner of the building. “I-”

 

“Just got your period. I know.”

 

Hakyeon stopped with her mouth hanging open. She closed it after a few seconds then opened it again, as she thought about what to say. Taekwoon just looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

 

“Okay, first of all, how do you even know that? Are you my stalker now?” she asked as she put her hands on her hips.

 

Taekwoon just gestured to his phone in his hand and furled his eyebrows.

 

“You need to use your words, Taekwoon-ie,” she said with narrowed eyes. “I have no idea what you are trying to say.”

 

He rolled his eyes at her and clicked on an icon on his phone then passed it to her. Hakyeon stared incomprehensibly as the app loaded, just showing a blank, green screen. Finally some words popped up on the phone.

 

“Period Tracking Lite… Taekwoon, you’ve been tracking my period?” She started laughing and clutched at her stomach, unable to stop. “Oh my god, Taekwoon. This is…why?”

 

He huffed and grabbed his phone from her hands. “I can just delete it.”

 

“No, you don’t have to do that,” Hakyeon said as she continued to laugh. She held out her hands to him and gave him a look. “Give it back to me.”

 

He reluctantly passed her his phone again, before crossing his arms over his chest, looking small in his big frame.

 

“What the fuck. Taekwoon,” she said as she scrolled through the calendar on the app, noting that there were symptoms noted for the previous months and predictions on what would happen during her period on what days. “You’ve even been cataloguing my cramps, acne, and cravings. How do you know all of this?” she asked, thumbing the screen. “It all looks pretty accurate.”

 

Taekwoon’s head was still facing the floor, and his shoulders had come forward a little as he curled in on himself. “You just…you complain all the time and I know enough about you period and all the symptoms anyway. It’s just what you’ve told me. I don’t know about some of the things the tracker asks so I just ignore them.”

 

“This is crazy, but thank you, you know, for being a good friend,” Hakyeon said as she looked at the app in more detail. “Okay, no. I do not need to know when I’m ovulating. Never going to need that info. Just ignore that, okay Taekwoon-ie?”

 

She looked at his face and noticed that he was still hunched over and anxious, his face scrunched up as he stares at the ground.

 

“Hey, look at me,” Hakyeon said a little loudly as she reached out a hand to touch Taekwoon’s arm. Taekwoon looked up. “You are a great friend and I think it’s crazy but it’s also very you and I love crazy. So thank you. It’s kind of nice knowing that you listen to everything I say when I complain, even if you’re a boy.”

 

Taekwoon nodded. Hakyeon smiled at him brightly and passed back his phone. She turned to walk away then stopped in her tracks and whipped back around to talk to Taekwoon again.

 

“Wait, that was not what I wanted to talk about. Well, it kind of was, but not really you know?” Taekwoon nodded his head even though he had no idea what Hakyeon meant. “I mean that I have my period and I am expected to go to the final evaluation and do well. How the heck am I supposed to do that? I’m going to be up there and bleed through my pants, I just know it.”

 

Hakyeon looked at Taekwoon expectantly, hoping that he would have some advice for her. He just blinked a couple of times before sighing. “I’ve known you for months and you have never been worried before. You aren’t going to bleed through your pants.” Hakyeon opened her mouth to protest, but he held up a hand to stop her. “Besides, it will be, like, the fourth day of your period. There is no way it will be heavy enough to bleed through your pants.”

 

Hakyeon pouted and bumped her shoulders against Taekwoon’s. “You never know. I’ve been under so much stress lately, I might have a month long period. I’ll probably have my period all through our debut promotions too.”

 

“Hakyeon,” Taekwoon warned, already looking like he wanted to just walk away and leave her in the dark corner of the hallway.

 

“Fine, you’re absolutely right,” she said, “I’m being crazy. I’m just worried, you know? What happens if I’m not picked? No other company will take me. You all have chances, but no one wants me and my body.”

 

Taekwoon reached out slowly and patted at her arm. “Our fans already love you more than anyone. You’ll make it. Don’t worry.”

 

“You really mean that?” Hakyeon asked as she fake-fluttered her eyes up at Taekwoon, who just rolled his eyes and glanced away. She punched his upper arm in retaliation and grinned while he glared at her. “I will only not be worried if you treat me to chicken tonight. Deal?”

 

Taekwoon just walked away.

 

“Hey,” Hakyeon said taking big steps to keep up with him, “I said deal? If you don’t buy me chicken I will pester you literally all day today and tomorrow while I talk about how much I worry about our future. Hey!” she called as she punched her fists lightly into his back. Taekwoon started trying to dodge the attacks as they came which ended with the two of them running in zigzags down the corridor and into the practice rooms.

 

She ended up eating free chicken for the next two days.

 

\--

 

Vixx became known as ‘that group.’ During their debut, people always asked rude questions and just didn’t understand how a single girl was living with and working with 5 boys in the same idol group.

 

“So who among your members is your ideal type?”

“You guys must feel uncomfortable living in the same dorm as a girl.”

“Well, Hakyeon looks a lot like a guy, so it’s easy to pretend, right? I keep forgetting she’s a girl, haha.”

 

But the members all handled the questions well, even if they talked about them in the car after promotions, or subtly gave Hakyeon comfort.

 

“Oh no. I would never date one of these guys. They are all my children, it would be too weird.”

“Yeah, Hakyeon-noona is like our dad. She rules with an iron fist. Plus, we know way too much about her to actually want to date her.”

“Yah, Lee Hongbin, what is that supposed to mean?”

“What? It’s true!”

 

And it was true. Because they spent so much time together, they started to learn more about Hakyeon’s habits, and knew way too much about her body and her period, as she tended to overshare way too much for their tastes. Only Taekwoon seemed unaffected, but he was always strange.

 

One night, when Hakyeon was filming something by herself, Taekwoon gathered all the members and sat them on the floor, glaring them into submission as they grumbled.

 

“I know all but Sanghyuk were here for the period paraphernalia talk, but I am going to give you more information that you need to know now that Hakyeon is our leader and we will be spending a lot of time together, okay?”

 

Everyone had an uncomfortable look on their faces, clearly remembering their last lecture but nodded anyway.

 

“Hakyeon is an amazing woman and has to put up with a lot, so you need to care for her in subtle ways, got it?”

 

“Where is this going, hyung? The way you phrased that is a little…”

 

Everyone glared at Ravi’s interruption and got a disgusted look on their faces, cringing at the thought of having to ‘care’ for Hakyeon. Taekwoon kicked him hard in the side, ears slightly red.

 

“That isn’t what I meant. You need to be aware of how to work with her when she has her period, because hormones change her body and mess with her emotions, okay?” At their nods, he continued. “In your bags, you should carry the essentials, especially because she forgets to all the time.”

 

With this, Taekwoon grabbed his bag that was sitting behind him and opened the zipper before grabbing a few things and putting them on the floor in front of the kids.

 

“The first thing you should carry is tampons and pads. You can stock up from what is in the bathroom. Hopefully when she does forget, at least one of us can help save her from disaster. The second thing you need is chocolate or snacks. I don’t understand exactly why, but Hakyeon says she needs chocolate and sweet snacks when she is on her period.”

 

Ken interrupted. “Why does she get snacks and I don’t? I wish I was a girl.”

 

“Ken-hyung,” Hyuk said, “You eat snacks even when you aren’t supposed to. Your bag is literally only filled with snacks and your i-pod.”

 

Hongbin and Ravi nodded along with Hyuk’s words.

 

“You honestly have a problem, hyung,” Hongbin said to him. Ken’s only response was to point at him with a finger gun and mime shooting him. Hongbin smiled brightly and pretended to die as he fell onto Ravi.

 

“Let’s continue,” Taekwoon said, ignoring the younger group members as he stuffed the tampons and chocolates back into his bag. He then took out his i-pod. “You should also consider installing a period-tracker app onto your i-pod if you can use the internet with it. That way you know when she’s on her period and there are no surprises. Though,” Taekwoon said looking thoughtful, “her last period came a week early, probably from all the stress, so it’s not super accurate right now.”

 

“You track her period hyung?”

“Why are you two this close? It’s strange.”

 

“Seriously, kids, be quiet.” They quieted down. “The last thing is Hakyeon gets really clingy and craves human connection. Please don’t ignore her too much. Let it happen.”

 

Everyone just stared at him with blank eyes, but Taekwoon was satisfied with his mini-lesson.

 

“Any questions?”

 

\--

 

After Rock Your Body promotions were finished, Hakyeon smushed herself next to Taekwoon on the couch in their living room and poked at his knees with her toes until he glared at her.

 

“What did you tell the kids? I literally had the strangest day.”

 

“What happened?”

 

“Well firstly, as you probably know, I got my period yesterday but I was rushing this morning and completely forgot to pack my bag, so I was about to ask a female staff for something, but Hongbin, I am dead serious, Hongbin grabbed a tampon from his bag and gave it to me without saying anything.”

 

Taekwoon hummed and pushed away her feet before motioning for her to continue.

 

“And then Jaehwan shared his chocolate snacks with me without me having to fight him. Even Hyuk-ie was acting strange. He sat still while I cuddled with him. He literally was not moving so I kept doing more and more and kept getting closer and was caressing him and he still didn’t move, I was so freaked out.”

 

Hakyeon glanced up to make sure Taekwoon was listening before she continued. “And then Ravi actually woke up when I went into his room earlier and he-oof-”

 

Hyuk fell on Taekwoon and Hakyeon, trying to squeeze his way between them.

 

“Hakyeon-noona, budge over. I want to sit here.”

 

Hakyeon chopped at his neck with the side of her palm until Hyuk gave a garbled scream and slid to the floor.

 

“Father is so mean to me,” he complained to the air while he brought up his feet to rest on the couch between Hakyeon and Taekwoon, his head pillowed in his arms.

 

Hakyeon wrinkled her nose and shared a look with Taekwoon. “Han Sanghyuk, you need to wash your feet right now. They literally smell like death.”

 

“I don’t want to. I just want to lie on the floor. I’m tired from school and practice.” He looked up at them with large eyes and tried to look small and innocent.

 

“Aw, my cutie Hyuk-ie,” Hakyeon said as she went down to the floor, but then made Hyuk cry out in pain as she elbowed him in the stomach. “Get off the floor, I’m serious. Your feet are going to make the couch smell for the rest of its life.”

 

Hyuk grumbled to himself, but ran off to the bathroom to do as he was told.

 

“I can’t believe we’re only 23 and already have 4 kids. What a nightmare,” she turned to Taekwoon, “Promise me you won’t let me get pregnant ever. I don’t think I was meant to have any more kids. These four are already too much to handle, and only one of them is still a teenager.”

 

Taekwoon side-eyed her, watching her frowning face for a few moments before replying. “You will just have to be the best aunt for my kids. They’ll love you more than me anyway.”

 

“Not sure if that’s true, but I will take it. Your kids are going to adore me. And they’ll be so cute, just like my Taekwoon-ie,” she said as she pinched his cheeks, grinning at his grumpy face and fighting off his attempts to make her stop.

 

There was a loud commotion from the other room and some shouting from Jaehwan and Hongbin which made the two eldest share a look and sigh.

 

“What have I told you about fighting when I’m not there?” Hakyeon shouted as she walked briskly to join them in the other room, abandoning Taekwoon to lay on the couch alone. They all turned to look at her from where they lay wrestling on the floor when she entered.

 

Hakyeon proceeded to lecture them on safety and how an adult needed to be there if they were going to be fighting and even put up with their grumbling about how harsh of a father she was.

 

 _I’m glad it’s them,_ she thought as she watched them roll their eyes petulantly and playfully kick at each other and her. _We’re going to be something big someday._

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think? It was kind of an experiment, so I hope you enjoyed it.  
> As always, you can find me on tumblr at tuberc-leo-fics, or my main kpop blog, leothevixxn.


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